The University of Connecticut is hoping its basketball success will carry over in the legislature.
Specifically, the school is seeking $100 million bonding for improvements to Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, the on-campus home of the men's and women's basketball teams.
“I think they’ll have a certain sway with the legislature if I had to make a guess, I also think you’re also going to be maybe in a good position to raise some private money,” Gov. Ned Lamont said when asked about the request Wednesday.
The request is part of UConn’s hopes of securing $650 million in additional bonding over the next five years, with much of the funding meant to continue building up the campus.
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Lawmakers from both sides say they support the plan.
“I don’t want anyone to think that if we don’t win a national title, the state’s going to abandon UConn, because that’s not going to happen,” Rep. Matt Ritter (D - House Speaker) said.
Other projects in the plan include a new life sciences building and renovations to upgrade existing buildings.
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The $100 million for Gampel would roughly match the $107 in bonding lawmakers approved for updates to Hartford’s XL Center.
The funding also reignites debate about where UConn should play its home games, though.
“We can’t drag down their program by having them try to help the XL Center,” Rep. Vincent Candelora (R - Minority Leader) said.
Separately, lawmakers are looking to change state law so fans can bet on UConn and other Connecticut collegiate teams.
State law currently prevents betting on local collegiate teams, with exceptions for certain promotions on teams to win a tournament.
A sweeping bill on sports betting laws includes a change to allow bets on game outcomes for those teams, including how much they need to win by.
The bill would still not allow bets on local individual player stats, also known as proposition – or prop – bets.
“I suspect you’ll see allowing betting on UConn for spread purposes,” Ritter said, noting residents can already make those same bets by crossing into any neighboring state.
UConn is neutral on the bill. The Connecticut State College and University system said it’s still reviewing the bill.
Quinnipiac declined to comment, while Yale University did not respond to a request for comment.
Others are opposed to the change.
“Gov. Ned Lamont is one of the UConn Huskies' biggest fans but he agrees with Connecticut's Higher Education leaders that residents here should not be able to bet on UConn games,” Julia Bergman, a spokeswoman for the governor, said.
The NCAA is asking states that allow sports betting to ban prop bets after several high-profile incidents.
The NCAA imposed a 15-year show cause penalty – essentially a ban – in February on former University of Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon for his involvement in a betting scandal.
Then in March, a gambling watchdog alerted sportsbooks after suspicious activity involving Temple University men's basketball games.
“I really would like to make sure that we have the proper guardrails on this before we continue this expansion,” Candelora, also an opponent, said.
Ritter, though, said safeguards are in place. He noted the suspicious bets in those high-profile incidents were placed at legal sportsbooks and noticed by watchdogs.
